


Voicemail

by SkyTheLoner



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Friendship, Gen, Lies, No Romance, Non-canon White Diamond, Non-canon White Pearl, Secret Identity, Slow To Update, Voicemail, if you couldn't tell, the gem war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-05-04 16:16:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14596845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyTheLoner/pseuds/SkyTheLoner
Summary: As she had expected, the familiar face of Pink Diamond's pearl appeared on the screen.Lately, she had become more like a voicemail.Or: The rebellion through the eyes of four pearls - one yellow, one blue, one white, and one that belonged to nobody.





	1. Answer (Yellow Diamond's Pearl)

**Author's Note:**

> I realized I didn't use dialogue tags... cool.

**"Hello, this is Pink Diamond's pearl."**

Yellow Diamond's pearl sighed at the sight of her fellow pearl appearing on the screen of the communicator. The device had been twisted so that the two pink sides matched up so she could reach the diamond base on the Earth's moon. Her Diamond had been wanting to talk to the younger diamond for a while now, but had always been greeted by the face of her pearl.

"Greetings." Her reply was curt, and she scowled. She had nothing against the pearl, but she knew her Diamond would be annoyed if she had to go all the way to the planet just to speak to the other diamond.

She didn't like it when her Diamond was annoyed.

**"May I take a message?"**

"Yes, can you tell your diamond to answer the communicator herself before my Diamond throws a temper tantrum?" Her voice was dry and laced with sarcasm.

To her annoyance, Pink Diamond's pearl chuckled, her hand on her mouth to conceal it.

"And can you also inform her that my Diamond plans to send her own troops to stop that rebellion."

The pearl's blue eyes widened and she stopped laughing instantly and shook her head. There was a small frown on her face.

Yellow Diamond's pearl raised an eyebrow.

 _ **"My** **Diamond**_ **is perfectly capable of handling this on her own."** The other pearl glared at her. **"She said so herself."**

And, yes, Pink Diamond had told her Diamond that she would be able to handle the rebellion. Just before the rouge rose quartz attacked the Galaxy Warp, causing mass choas.

"You hardly need to use that tone." 

**"Then tell your Diamond to let my Diamond take care of this and butt out of this."**

"Whatever."

There was silence.

Yellow Diamond's pearl let her thoughts wander.

Pink Diamond's pearl stared out the glass dome, towards Earth.

The other pearl had not ended the call, and she didn't feel like doing it either.

"Your Diamond has been absent lately."

**"She's resting."**

"Hmmm..." She nodded. "She's either 'resting' or 'busy' nowadays, huh?"

 **"Well..."** She seemed defensive.  **"Dealing with both colonization and a rebellion at the same time is difficult."** She covered her face, which was tinted light blue.

"Don't forget spending days at her zoo..."

The other pearl stuck her tongue out at her.

**"Don't you have better things to be doing?"**

"Maybe." There was a brief silence. "Just remember to tell her about my Diamond's troops-"

**"Right. Those brutes. Now, I do believe my Diamond is calling me."**

Yellow Diamond's pearl didn't hear anything, but she let it slid. Whatever.

**"Bye, then."**

"Right..."

The communicator floated back into Yellow Diamond's pearl's hands.

With an annoyed sigh, she walked away.


	2. Listen (Blue Diamond's Pearl)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue Diamond's pearl is a very good listener.
> 
> It was shame that she had never dared to speak her mind.
> 
> Because surely the words she had just heard were just her imagination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super mysterious summary that probably won't mean anything...  
> ...Or will it?
> 
> lol I can't write fight scenes that well...  
> Sorry if everything is confusing
> 
> Sorry if me not using dialogue tags is confusing. There will be some in the final chapter, though. For symbolic reasons.

_"It will be fine, pearl."_ Pink Diamond's voice was dismissive and calm - at least from what Blue Diamond's pearl could hear with her ear pressed against the door. There were some footsteps, heavy ones that belonged to Pink Diamond, that drowned out what would have been the feather-light footsteps of her pearl.

 _"I know, my-"_ There's a sudden stop as Pink Diamond's pearl lets out a hoarse cough; it seemed fake.  _"My Diamond."_

There was a long silence.

Blue Diamond's pearl stepped back from the large doors, looking up, but not meeting her Diamond's gaze.

She opened the door, not saying anything.

* * *

**"Enough."** The quartz didn't even need to raise her voice to make Blue Diamond's pearl shiver. But just slightly.

The Rebellion's leader stood in front of her Diamond, glaring up at her with anger. By her side was her pearl, who watched the Diamond carefully, a sword in hand.

And nobody moves, because they all know Blue Diamond could cripple Rose Quartz with her powers. But she doesn't.

 **"I will not let you destroy this planet."** Her voice carried the strength of a gem created to lead. Not a mere quartz.

Rose Quartz took a step forward. "There doesn't need to be a death in this war... And we can dismantle your ships and sabotage your construction and shut down your kindergartens as many times as we need to."

"Because we are the Crystal Gems!" Rose Quartz's pearl - the one claiming to have no owner - spoke up. "And we will not be silent-" Her voice cut off as she realized a gem was creeping towards them.

The rebel pearl drew her sword from its scabbard, but didn't attack, just watched.

In the stadium, a mutual feeling of tension descended on the gems.

Then the gem darted forward.

In an instant, the pearl exploded into a cloud of smoke, leaving only her gem behind. The quartz that stood there when it cleared didn't move from where she was, glaring at the rebel leader.

Rose Quartz decided to charge forward, landing hard punch on the gem's stomach, causing her to explode into smoke as well, then leaned down to pick up the pearl.

Rose Quartz turned to her Diamond, who was unaffected by the events.

"What exactly do you plan on doing with your rebellion? Being a nuisance?" Her Diamond's voice is laced with annoyance - and maybe calmness, because she knows Rose Quartz wouldn't dare attack her with this many gems around. Of course, not of the gems around them are on Homeworld's side - many of the other rebels stand behind her. Then her Diamond narrowed her eyes coldly. "You think you can stand up to diamond?"

There's something off about the way she flinched at the words.

* * *

"You need to stop that."

 "Why?" Pink Diamond looked up at her Diamond questioningly.

 "They're traitors. Those 'Crystal Gems' betrayed you; they don't deserve mercy." Her Diamond meet Pink Diamond gaze, and while she flinched, she stared back.

She stuck out her tongue. "I..." She glanced down at her pearl for moment. "I don't want for my gems to die... even if they are traitors..."

Her Diamond frowned. "It's a deathless war; you telling your soldiers not to shatter them will make you seem weak."

"Oh yes, because murder will stop the my gems from joining Rose Quartz." Her voice held sarcasm. "It'll certainly show them I'm not a monster." She bitterly laughed.

Pink Diamond and her Diamond argued over the matter for a few moments more, before Pink Diamond simply told her Diamond to go away.

With a sigh, her Diamond did.

Just as the door closed(the door closed slowly and she wasn't sure if Pink Diamond knew), she heard the voice of Pink Diamond's pearl.

"I don't think we'll be able to keep this up much longer..."

"It will be fine, my Pearl." And Blue Diamond's pearl turned around just in time to see Pink Diamond lean down to kiss her pearl on the gem.

She felt her face begin to heat up, walking away so fast she almost didn't hear her add:

_"Because we are the C-y-tal -ems-"_

* * *

Blue Diamond's pearl always thought her hearing was fine, but it was clearly not.

Because what she had just barely overheard made no sense.

She shook her head and continued walking.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTW, next chapter is White Diamond's pearl's chapter, and there will be a few headcanons. It may also be a bit short too... sorry.


	3. Liar (White Diamond's Pearl)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> White Diamond's pearl keeps secrets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow this one's long

_"O-oh, my bad!"_

_Pink Diamond's pearl was somewhat of a nervous mess when she walked into the room, passing by the other pearl as she stumbled and stepped back. The other pearl held her shaking hands by her side, and she forced her trembling legs to move so that she could stand against the wall. With her slender form flat against the grey walls of the Earth's Diamond Base, she looked so small. So powerless. So terrified._

_White Diamond's pearl pitied her._

_"At ease." Her words were curt but not unkind. Calculated._

_Pink Diamond's pearl nodded. Her light blue eyes shone with fear; less fear, but still fear. Did she fear White Diamond - her Diamond?_

_"Honestly."_

_She nodded again._

_"M-my-" The pearl gagged. She took a deep breath._

Oh stars. _If she was so nervous now, how would she react to her Diamond._

_"I'm just a pearl." The words slipped from her lips easily. And they were true. She wasn't a gem of high rank by creation, just by ownership._

_And yet her words didn't reassure Pink Diamond's pearl._

_Hmm... oh, wait._

_Pink Diamond's pearl turned her gaze to the wall, breaking eye contact._

_"I will fetch my Diamond." She quickly walked away, pausing only to activate the stairs before disappearing._

_White Diamond's pearl heard the sound of the door opening, and she quickly bowed. Her Diamond didn't show that she noticed, but when she looked up, she saw her Diamond's grey gaze focused on the stairs._

_Her Diamond sighed._

* * *

"Shall I fetch her?"

It had been a while, White Diamond's pearl noted.

Her Diamond nodded.

White Diamond's pearl began walking towards the stairs. The Earth's Diamond Base was silent. As she walked up the stairs, she heard bits of conversations:

"...here?"

Nothing.

"Why?"

Nothing. A longer silence.

"I'm okay."

White Diamond's pearl cleared her throat to announce her presence.

"Oh!" There was some muttering.

White Diamond's pearl was greeted with the odd sight of Pink Diamond leaning against the wall, breathing heavily and clearly favoring her right leg. Said leg was bruised and dotted with a few dark pink patches and slightly twisted. The Diamond's outfit was dirty, with tears on one side resembling claw marks.

With a grimace of pain, the Diamond turned her head to focus her cloudy gaze on her. White Diamond's pearl couldn't help by flinch at the sight before her, looking away.

Now her eyes were locked on the other pearl, guilt plastered on her face. Her body trembled.

"Stuff happened..." The pearl's voice was soft.

_Stuff?_  White Diamond's pearl looked at Pink Diamond again. The Diamond limped forward, and raised a hand.

_Shhh_...

Pink Diamond's outfit glittered and glowed white. When it faded, the claw marks were gone and the Diamond brushed her clothes off.

Good as new.

The Diamond and her pearl nervously looked at White Diamond's pearl, an expression of guilt plastered on both of their face; Pink Diamond appeared particularly ashamed of something - her injuries or maybe the fact that White Diamond's pearl had seen her in such a state. She was still struggling to breathe properly, though breathing was more of a calming technique or an indicator of exhaustion than a need for their kind. The diamond's gaze didn't meet her, not because of the gap between their status, but out of, well, guilt. The Diamond and her pearl were hiding something.

"I..."

White Diamond's pearl finally managed to meet the Diamond's gaze. The Diamond flinched then stared back.

"Umm... I tripped."

A lie.

The gem gave her a tiny, stressed smile after her words. White Diamond's pearl raised an eyebrow. Should she...?

Maybe...

"Tripped?"

"Yeah."

"And it gave you claw marks and twisted leg?"

The Diamond didn't answer.

"My Diamond wishes to speak to you."

"Oh." The Diamond glanced at her bruised leg, and she hesitantly stumbled towards the stairs.

* * *

"Pink."

The Diamond didn't say anything, just nervously messed with her hair.

Her Diamond sighed. "Pink."

Pink Diamond nervously looked up at her, her body shivering under her Diamond's grey gaze, showing some sort of emotion that White Diamond's pearl hadn't seen before from her. Not in her seven thousand three hundred forty six years of serving her.

"You're injured." Her voice was calm, but something akin to concern was present.

"I... tripped."

The thing about White Diamond was that her powers were related to the mind. The truth; one's memories; reasoning. Her Diamond's steel-colored eyes stared straight at Pink Diamond and her Diamond crouched down, her eyes shimmering in a way that told her that she was using her powers. While her Diamond was not all-knowing, she could tell if someone was lying. And what they were saying didn't even have to be true, they just needed to believe it was.

And Pink Diamond did not believe that words she said.

Her Diamond knew.

"That's not true." It was a statement.

Pink Diamond said nothing, finally looking down and watching her pearl. Pink Diamond's pearl gazed at her diamond in concern.

"You are lying." It's not an accusation. A pause. "Why?"

"I'm..." Pink Diamond hesitated and took a deep breath. "I can't tell you."

"You  _can,_ but you  _won't._ "

"Yes..."

"Will it harm the planet?"

Pink Diamond managed to look up at her Diamond-

_And why is there the smallest of grins on her face?_

-and easily answer. "No."

"Will it put you in danger?"

"It should not." Her voice was calm-

_Pink Diamond's pearl took a small step towards her diamond._

-and she nodded.

Her Diamond narrowed her eyes, then just sighed. "Please be more careful, Pink." It was clear she had suspicions about how Pink Diamond had obtained such injuries - messing around with some machinery, trying to engage in combat against the rebels - but she stayed silent. She stood up and began walking away.

"Bye."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll use dialogue tags next chapter...


	4. Comrade (Pearl) [Part I]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long. I procrasinated.
> 
> Also, now we got dialogue tags! For symbolic reasons relating to how pearls see themselves and others and how Pearl sees herself and others.

Pearl wasn't sure what to think of their newest member - she would rather they keep their little rebellion limited to just the two of them. Though, she supposed having a larger group would make them more of a threat in Homeworld's eyes. It would be unexpected to them to face a cross-gem fusion like Garnet - with the power of a ruby and the grace and speed of a sapphire. A cross-gem fusion, a "mere" soldier, and a rouge servant. This could work, she thought to herself as she pushed through the vegetation.

The attack on the sky arena could have gone horribly wrong according to Garnet: the rebellion was supposed to end when she destroyed Sapphire's physical form. Yet, Ruby had managed to change that... Or maybe Sapphire had said something, just a little thing, and thrown everything off.

"Rose?" she asked, keeping her voice quiet, watching as their leader turned around. "May I speak to you? Alone."

Rose glanced at Garnet for a moment. "Of course." She walked over to the fusion, tapping her shoulder lightly.

Garnet jumped - Pearl did too, not expecting that - whirling around to face her, her arms in front of her body in a defensive position. Her hands were curled into fists, yet Rose was unfazed by this, her dark eyes glittering with amusement. Her tricolor eyes focused on the large quartz in front of her, standing there with a small smile on her face. The gem slowly lowered her arms to her side, unclenching her fists. Then, before she could open her mouth to speak, the fusion's arms rose up to form a salute.

(Was it the Ruby in her that was reacting that way?)

Rose quickly reached up to grab her arms, pushing them down with a bit more force then necessary. "Please, don't."

Garnet stood there for a second, then she muttered, "My apologizes."

"It's fine," she replied, shaking her head.

The fusion's third eye, located on the gem's forehead, opened. The eye flashed different colors, drifting left, right, left, up, down, right, before finally she closed it again. "I can't see," she commented with a frown, pointing to her eye.

"The future?"

Garnet nodded.

"It's fine," Rose repeated, her voice calm. "And... Garnet?"

The fusion said nothing, but she nodded slightly.

"Pearl and I are going to have a little chat, if you don't mind," she told her. Garnet frowned. "If you need anything, we'll be over there-" She pointed to a small hill, and Pearl frowned. "-alright?"

I wonder... Does she know what I'm going to ask her?

Garnet nodded.

Rose gently grabbed Pearl's hand, leading her away. Pearl felt her face heating up at the physical contact; even something as simple as this, something with little romantic intentions, from the gem that she had - does - worship as some type of godly being, made her embarrassed.

As they walked away, Pearl commented, "That took longer than expected..." The duo pushed their way through a sea of tall grass that reached to her shoulders, and she drew her sword from its scabbard. Slicing down the blades of dry grass, she created a path to the hill.

Pearl turned around when she and Rose walked over the top of the hill.

"Well?" Rose questioned, leaning against a tall tree, her mass of pink hair smushed flat.

"What are we going to do about Garnet?" she bluntly asked, waving a hand in the direction they came from.

The pink gem tilted her head. "Pardon?"

Pearl sighed, then said, "Are we going to tell her about who you really are?"

This caused Rose to frown. "I... didn't have any plans about expanding our group, but..." She paused, inhaled, exhaled. "I don't..."

She sighed. "We shouldn't tell her. Not now anyway."

"According to... Garnet, we were supposed to fail. After I destroyed Sapphire's physical form, we were going to captured."

"Then what?"

"Everything got a bit fuzzy, but she didn't look farther out of fear. She didn't tell Blue Diamond this."

Rose hummed in adknowledgement. "Because I'm Pink Diamond."

Pearl nodded.

"So... a lack of knowledge can effect a Sapphire's visions..." she mused, and a sly grin crept up onto her face. She pushed herself up, shaking the bark out of her ringlets of hair. She was planning something, something probably stupid.

While her Diamond's heart was in the right place, her means of achieving her goals were poorly thought out and reckless. More out of naiveness and inexperience, she had decided to stage a rebellion in an attempt to make Yellow and Blue Diamond agree to stop colonization.

It was supposed to be limited to just Pearl and her Diamond, but somehow it had grew.

The rebellion's propose was to drive Homeworld off of the planet. Yet, somehow it was becoming more than that.

"Let's fight for them," Rose suddenly told her, sounding determined. "I want to fight for her."

Pearl raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

Leaning down to look her in the eye, the other gem (she had to get used to calling her a quartz, she told herself) said, "Garnet. And any other gem they want to discard. Anyone whose unhappy with their role." The huge ringlets of her hair spilled over her shoulders, filling up Pearl's vision with pink, and her eyes held more determination than she had seen in a long time.

Pearl felt a warm, bubbly feeling in her chest and smiled.

"Okay."

* * *

 

Pearl's legs were shaking horribly as she stood on the battlefield, holding herself up using her spear - an actual summoned weapon. She felt pride bubble up inside her again, and she managed to stop her shaking. Pushing herself up, she removed her weapon from the muddy ground, looking around at the battle.

The field was littered with gemstones of different shapes and sizes, though most of them were her Diamond's soldiers, Pearl noticed. The hexagon facetted gems to her right were amethysts - Pearl had watched them fall to Garnet. The fusion had proved herself to be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, she thought.

It had been worth it to let her join.

Farther away, her Diamond's palanquin stood on the ground, struggling to remove its legs from the mud. Pearl wondered if she could push it out, then say that she was trying to push it onto its side. Not for the first time, her and her Diamond were on different sides of the battle.

There was a sound.

Pearl whirled around, barely managing to block the agate's attack. Her foe's lance snapped in two, and the moss agate jumped back. Drawing another lance, the agate muttered a cruse under her breath.

She charged forward with a shout, trying to stab her, but Pearl just gracefully avoided the attack, spinning out of the way. Pearls were dancers - quick, light on their feet, and balanced. Not exactly the type of foe the agate would be used to dealing with.

Pearl lunged forward, sinking her spear into the gem's physical form with ease. The agate let out a pained gasp of surprise before she exploded into a cloud of green tinted powder. The gemstone fell to the ground.

She leaned down to pick it up, encasing it in a white bubble. With a shrug, she put the bubble in her gem.

Her and Rose could decide what to do with them later.

"We gotta get to Pink Diamond!" From over the shouts and clanging of weapons against each other, she managed to hear Bismuth call to her.

Oh, yes. Bismuth, she remembered with a small smile. One of their first members.

The blacksmith skidded to halt beside her, her fists shifted into large hammers and her breathing rapid. Her outfit had a tear running down the bottom of her apron, and was frayed in multiple places. With a wave of her hand, she fixed her apron. "We need to end this," she stated, and Pearl agreed with her comrade, though she had no idea how the blacksmith intended to achieve such a thing.

Bismuth continued, "Okay, so we know the Diamonds rarely - if ever - engage in direct combat, right?"

She nodded. Where was Bismuth going with this?

The rainbow-haired gem jabbed her thumb in the direction of Pink Diamond's palanquin, then she continued with, "If we can scare Pink Diamond away, her troops will flee too. It's simple." There was a grin on her face, one that unnerved Pearl slightly. Bismuth was very anti-Homeworld, she knew, but she also knew - and hoped - that she would obey Rose's orders not to shatter their foes.

But Rose wasn't exactly here right now.

As for the palanquin...

The machine had managed to right itself, and it was crawling across the ground with the door closed. It wasn't doing much, just walking around and watching the battle

Pearl stared at her.

"But how would we even reach her? She's very heavily guarded, as you can see," she pointed out, because even if her diamond let down her defenses, her guards would surely capture them. Maybe even shatter-

"So, see that over there?" Her friend pointed to a group of amethyst.

"Yeah?" Pearl replied, nervous.

"It's a weak point."

She looked over to the group of gems, a line of agates, sapphires, and other quartzes. Of course, Pearl herself should be somewhere past that line, protected by the metal cage, but she was out here, fighting against her Diamond's troops, far away from her.

No one really questioned where her pearl was or where Rose Quartz was...

And indeed there was a place in the line with only amethysts - no agates.

Heck, if Pearl wanted to, she could probably sneak through the line - the sapphires wouldn't see her in the visions if she changed her outfit in the middle of the battle. But if her Diamond was hurt enough to retreat to her gem...

Would anyone notice the way her gem looked? The way the bottom looked?

How would the other Diamonds react?

"We could strike there."

Pearl shook her head. "Then what?" She tried to hide the frown of frustration, tried to hide her worry for her Diamond.

Because, honestly, if she was fighting against Homeworld, that might have been a good idea. But, no, Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond and everything was complicated.

"We could be captured," she whispered, her fear not entirely faked.

Bismuth let out a pttff sound. "That's not happenin'" The blacksmith wrapped a muscular arm around Pearl's thin waist, pulling her into a one armed hug. Her face began to feel warm.

"It's not worth it..." she whispered.

The blacksmith huffed.

"Well," Pearl added quickly, "it was a good idea in theory."

Frowning, Bismuth finally nodded and muttered, "I guess for a plan like that we'd need more than just us." After a moment, she gave her a small smile. "Well, let's continue on with bismuth."

Pearl nodded and charged back into the fray, Bismuth at her side.


	5. Turning Point (Pearl) [Part II]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait.

Oh stars, Pearl thought to herself, carefully dragging her injured leg behind her. That battle had been a disaster.

At first it was just a normal battle, with Pearl fighting alongside Rose against Pink Diamond's troops one moment and the next there had been a high pitched whistling noise from the sky, signaling that ships were going to land. Pearl looked up, confused. There shouldn't be ships; there shouldn't be backup; the Crystal Gems were supposed to win...

A large shadow fell over her.

They weren't Pink Diamond's...

...and they were terrifying.

They were covered in gold and copper that glittered in the sunlight, with large energy cannons attached to both sides, and a wingspan of easily 100 meters. The warships hovered in the air, held up by powerful engines that hummed loudly.

A yellow parallelogram - a diamond - had been indented into the bottom of the ship and Pearl frowned. These ships were Yellow Diamond's?

Oh, the diamonds meant business.

The ships had suddenly began charging up their attacks, yellow sparks flying from the barrel of the two cannons.

Pearl had watched in horror, feeling Rose grab her arm tightly. The Crystal Gems weren't used to dodging enemy fire from above.

Then beams of super-heated plasma rained down.

In a flash of light, Rose threw up her shield, the diameter at least eight feet across, and braced herself against the onslaught of enemy fire. Pearl felt a burning pain in her leg, the familiar crackle of energy that threatened to disperse her physical form. She bit her lip to stop herself from letting out a pained cry. Oh stars, she thought, flinching. She could take this, right? She had dealt with stray aura sizzling around Yellow Diamond's body hitting her plenty of times, she could take this. Her eyes snapped closed as struggled to keep her mouth shut.

Don't draw attention to yourself.

She didn't remember hearing the order, but after a moment, the Crystal Gems started running.

So they had ran too.

Pearl didn't know how, but she had somehow become separated from Rose. But she knew Garnet was nearby them when they had retreated. She could help her. She just had to pray that someone didn't destroy her physical form. She knew the way back to the base; she could regroup with her comrades there; she had to get there, she told herself.

Her leg, though only grazed by the plasma blast, burned and probably would have blistered if she had been organic. It must had been that experimental energy cannon Yellow Diamond had super briefly mentioned at the meeting.

Pearl finally started slowing down, now only jogged down the twisted path that lead to their base. After several more minutes of walking - and she kept glancing around her, to make sure no one followed her - she arrived at the entrance to the cavern they dwelled in.

Moss, vines and other forms of Earth flora grew around the mouth of the cave, and she carefully pushed it out of the way, careful not the break any of it. The soil turned softer as she progressed down the tunnel.

Luckily, Pearl wasn't claustrophobic because the tunnel could become very tight at times. Other gems might have shapeshift to get through, but she was skinny enough to travel through them with ease. She found herself in a large cave, not bothering to stop, knowing the tunnels like the back of her hand.

One could get lost in here if they didn't notice the tiny details: the trails of clay, the tiny rivers, the pebbles placed by the other gems, all leading to one place. The only light sources in here were thin beams of light from the ceiling, but her gem illuminated the tunnel much better.

Finally, Pearl thought to herself with a small smile. The entrance to there base was there.

Tap. Tap-tap. She tapped on the thin stone wall.

She waited for a moment, listening.

Tap. Ta-ta-tap.

She replied: Tap! Tap-tap-tap! Ta-tap!

The outline of a door glowed blue on the wall as that section slowly faded away.

Pearl stepped inside their base.

* * *

 

Pearl slumped against a large boulder to steady herself as she attempted to slow her breathing. Even if she had no biological need for the action, it was still a calming technique that she had picked up on. One of her pale hands was pressed against her chest and she trembled slightly and gripped the fabric.

Her eyes darted around the area for more foes, but the forest clearing was empty; the outskirts of the clearing were also free of gems.

That... was a disaster, she thought to herself as she removed at bottle from her gem. Homeworld troops - Yellow and Blue Diamond's soldiers - has abunshed them on their way to a spire constructed recently. Rose had been critically wounded by a jasper fusion's flail, and had been forced to retreat into her gem, her physical form crushed under the heavy weight of her foe's weapon.

Her gemstone was fine - maybe - but still...

They were losing. And losing. And losing. And sometimes winning, but it wasn't enough.

Pearl gingerly traced the facets of the large diamond, checking again for microscopic cracks zipping across its pale surface. It was absent of any damage and she sighed heavily, mostly in relief.

Rose - Pink - had had her physical form destroyed before - mostly by accident - but still, Pearl was worried about her. And she could say with certainty that it wasn't just because of her ingrained attachment to her. It was something different. Something that made her metaphorical heart flutter and made her feel nervous nut not scared around her. And, she felt happy around her. Very happy.

She had yet to confess this feelings to her.

Pearl waited.

And waited.

And waited and begun to wonder how long it took for diamonds to reform.

Reforming was something like turning something off while charging it to make it charge faster - why was it taking so long? How long had she even been waiting? Pearl looked up. The sun was beginning to set.

Why-

The pink gemstone Pearl was holding began to light up a brilliant white, basking the forest in an alabaster glow and levitate. Floating to the center of the clearing, the gem glowed blindingly bright for a moment, before a form emerged from it. A featureless form solidified and then hair and clothes appeared. The glowing form of Pink Diamond floated to the ground and the light faded slowly.

The diamond sat there on the ground for a moment, on her knees. Then her senses returned.

Her head snapped up, and she whirled around, her diamond pupils focusing on her.

Her eyes widened. "Pearl." The diamond's voice was hoarse and barely audible and tears formed in the corners of her eyes, the pink iris barely visible.

Pearl gave her a short bow and a small smile and lunged forward to hug her.

Pink stiffened when she first wrapped her arms around her midsection, but her body relaxed after a moment. She quickly embraced Pearl, squeezing her tightly. "You're okay," she whispered softly.

Pearl blinked and said, "I'm okay? What about you?"

Finally releasing her from her hug, the diamond leaned back. "I'm fine," she stated. "And I would be if anyone found out." Gesturing to her with her gloved hands, she said, "But... you might not be."

Pink was worried about her? Of course she would be. She was worried about everyone. (Except White Diamond. Never her.) She was incredibly sympathetic towards almost everything. Including humans and other weird Earth creatures.

She stayed silent for a long time.

"We're losing," Pink said, mostly to herself.

Yeah... Pearl thought. She whispered out loud, "I know."

Pink took a deep breath, seeming nervous. "There's something I've been thinking about. A way to end this."

Oh? That was good.

"You don't have to help me with this if you don't want to..." she carefully told her.

Pearl smiled slightly to reassure her. "I can do it."

Pink let out a small mirthless snort of laughter. "So you say..." She inhaled a deep breath that she didn't need and exhaled slowly. "So, here's the plan..."

* * *

 

Pearl barely remembered anything from the day the corruption light hit the planet, but she remembered Rose's face.

The horror. Regret. Fear. Uncertainty.

And she had turned to Pearl and Garnet, the last Crystal Gems, and hugged them and cried.

Did we do the right thing?

Somewhere far away, a butterfly crawled out of its chrysalis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might write an epilogue...


End file.
